Chinese rescuers rush to save trapped coal miners

Rescue workers rushed to save a group of miners trapped after an accident at a coal mine in the eastern province of Shandong late on Saturday, Chinese state media reported Sunday.

Two workers died and another 20 were still trapped in the mine, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

A spontaneous rock burst — a kind of earthquake induced by excavation — destroyed part of a water drainage tunnel in the coal mine, which is owned by Shandong Energy Group. 

More than 300 people were working inside the mine at the time. Most have been successfully lifted to safety.

The cause of the accident was being investigated. The incident "has nothing to do with workers' operations," an official with the Shandong Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau told The Associated Press news agency.

The dangerous conditions at the mine were hampering efforts involving more than 170 rescue workers, Xinhua reported.

ap/jlw (AP, Reuters)

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